6. Shall I tell you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to confess your ignorance.
[3] Houghton, "Women of the Orient," p. 14.
=Literature.=--_Marshman_, History of India; _Ragozin_, Vedic India; _Spofford_, Library of Historical Characters; _Butler_, Land of the Veda; _Houghton_, Women of the Orient; _Clarke_, Ten Great Religions; _Johonnot_, Geographical Reader; _Macaulay_, Essays; _Ballou_, Footprints of Travel; _Stoddard's_ Lectures; Encyclopaedia Britannica; _Arnold_, Light of Asia; _Chamberlain_, Education in India.
=Geography and History.=--India lies between the sixth and thirty-sixth parallels of north latitude. It is bordered on the north by the Himalayas and on the south by the Indian ocean. The climate in general is hot, which makes the natives indolent and accounts for their lack of enterprise. The country is very rich, the chief products being wheat, cotton, rice, opium, and tea. The area is about one and a half million square miles, and the population two hundred millions.
The early history of India is obscure, as the Brahmans, from religious scruples, have ever been opposed to historical records. It is certain that there was an aboriginal race which occupied the country from an unknown period, and that a branch of the Aryan[4] or Indo-Germanic race came to India and struggled for supremacy. The Aryans succeeded in reducing the natives to subjection or in driving them into the mountains. The comparatively pure descendants of these races are about equal in number in India, their mixed progeny composing the great mass of the Hindu population. The Sanskrit was their classic language, and the Veda their Bible.
=The Caste System.=--There are four great castes in India:--
1. The _Brahmans_, or highest caste, who are the priests, scholars, lawyers, physicians, teachers, etc. This order is highly reverenced by the lower castes, and its members are dignified, abstemious, and sedate. Their highest ideal is to bring their desires and appetites under complete control. They exercise great influence in the land.[5]
2. The _warriors_, who comprise the army and the office holders.
3. The _merchants_, _mechanics_, and _farmers_, who constitute the bone and sinew of India.